What's up with that?

What's Up With That has accumulated a mini-backlog of street sign-related inquiries, so we asked Juneau streets superintendent Mike Scott for some help in deciphering some cryptic signs:

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Q: What's up with the yield sign on Glacier Highway at Hospital Drive? It's for traffic coming off Egan. Who exactly is supposed to yield for what?

A: That sign - though visible to cars on Glacier Highway - is directed at the adjacent bike path, Scott said. It does not apply to automobile traffic on Glacier Highway.

Q: What's up with the missing sign? When the new Auke Rec bypass was opened, a segment of the old Glacier Highway ended near the entrance of Lena Loop Road. Typically, when a road "deadends" like this, there is a sign on the opposite side with two arrows to alert drivers that the road comes to a "T." This intersection is especially hazardous because it occurs on a turn as the road rises with a portion of Glacier Highway in the distance, giving the illusion that the road continues. I have witnessed several cars unable to stop, skidding across Lena Loop into the other side, and I've talked with others in the neighborhood who have seen the same. What will it take to get the state to put up the double arrow sign?

A: What it took is concerned citizens making their voices heard. The sign went up at the start of the month.

When we spoke with Scott on Oct. 31, he said the topic of a "T" intersection arrow sign came up in a recent conversation with state Department of Transportation officials; Lena Loop Road is a state-maintained road. Scott said the state DOT was aware of the problem, and a sign was on order.

The sign was up within a few days.

Q: What's the story behind the "no left turn" from 4 to 6 p.m. by the Valley McDonalds? Isn't going straight across at those times just as bad?

A: The sign in question is posted for cars going from Trout Street or Old Dairy Road onto Glacier Highway. It was installed as part of the Department of Transportation's reconstruction of that stretch of Glacier Highway, which also included the new stoplights at Jordan Avenue and Shell Simmons Drive.

While going straight across could pose the same problems as turning left - and while, most likely, the "no left turn" policy is only needed Monday through Friday - Scott said that as long as the sign stands as-is, the rule stays as-is.

Q: What is the distance from the top of Tee Harbor to Shelter Island? What's the elevation of the highest point on Shelter Island? How deep is the channel between Tee Harbor and Shelter Island?

A: It's just a hunch, but I'm guessing our inquirer lives somewhere near Tee Harbor. For you, and for anyone else who may have wondered about that neck of the woods, here are the stats:

• It's just more than three miles from the "top" of Tee Harbor - we define that as where the leg and crossbar of the "T" join - to the shore of Shelter Island.

• The highest point on Shelter Island - the peak on the northern section of the island - rises to 1,170 feet. The southernmost "peak" is 915 feet in elevation. The midsection of the island - the area located directly across Favorite Channel from the mouth of Tee Harbor - generally reaches about 900 feet, with a high point of 930 feet.

• While the depth of Favorite Channel varies around islands, islets and shoals, the deepest points on the trajectory from Tee Harbor to Shelter Island reach in excess of 65 to 70 fathoms, or 390 to 420 feet deep.

For as long as this column has existed, it seems, one topic has loomed over What's Up With That and reared its head time and time again.

That ever-present issue is FOX Network programming in Juneau: Why is programming tape delayed? Why don't the Empire's TV listings match what is shown? And so on, in myriad variations on the theme.

Well, thanks to a change in GCI's local cable channel lineup a couple months back, it seems the confusion and consternation may be a thing of the past.

As most cable subscribers already know, GCI switched its source of FOX programming on the Juneau cable system from a generic, tape-delayed network feed to KTBY, the Anchorage FOX affiliate, around Sept. 1. FOX shows and the Empire's TV listings now match.

Terry Dunlap, Southeast regional manager for GCI, said late last month that the change is permanent - and clearly much-welcomed, based on the positive feedback the cable company has received.

Send What's Up With That questions to whatsup@juneauempire.com.